itch.io

Now that you mention all the other advantages of putting it in a chat box I fully agree, it would’ve been the better solution for the jam (since you still would’ve seen the lights outside anyway). Though generally I find the 3D text more interesting, because it’s not just another screen you’re looking at - CosmoD games and Smile for Me did that pretty well. It’s just really hard and definitely not solvable in a jam time frame lol. Again, thanks for all your feedback, I love reading it. And funnily enough, I just talked with a friend who ALSO found the idle game more interesting than I expected and also suggested a 2D dialogue lmao

Thanks so much for playing and reviewing! Even though it makes sense, I‘m kinda surprised that players are invested enough in the ‚gameplay‘ that the dialogue seems distracting. The idle game was a last-ditch attempt because I thought it was the lowest-effort minigame I could make (to no one‘s surprise it still took a lot of time) and feared that players wouldn‘t play it and be bored by the dialogue pauses. Ideally, the screen game would‘ve been more adventure-like similar to Hacknet or Stories Untold so I could have synced the story beats so you don’t feel like being pulled from the gameplay when looking away. Maybe even just pausing/slowing the idle game during the dialogue would‘ve been enough but doesn‘t feel right.

I actually find the idea of not letting the player play the ‚main‘ game interesting but it would‘ve needed a better integration and narrative to work. Gameplay is my biggest enemy still… I might need longer jams to participate in so I‘m not running around like a headless chicken

Thanks so much for playing!! A chat history is a good idea because I would like to keep the dialogue inside the 3D world so you still have to look away from you monitor (I only had the narrative as a starting point and I’m clueless when it comes to gameplay so it wouldn’t have to be an idle game after all…). Also I’m super happy that you mention Mirror’s Edge because while it wasn’t a direct inspiration, I love its presentation SO much and seeps into anything I do

LOL I have a habit of collecting weird titles that pop into my brain and this one somehow fit the vibe

Thanks for playing! My reasoning behind making the monitor small and to the side was that after a bit, you’ll be more interested in what’s going on besides the screen - doesn’t match with the pacing and dialogue pauses I included though, I wish I’ve had time for that!

Yeah it looks like this for me unfortunately https://litter.catbox.moe/47mtnt.mp4 (I still think I’m missing something)

No yeah I found the controls on your game page alright, but my diver’s moving at about 10 centimeters per second is the only issue haha

Love the graphics and atmosphere, the little particles floating in front of the flashlight are a nice touch. I dunno if I missed something but I felt the movement was overly slow; at first I didn’t even know that pressing W was doing anything

I like how fast it is, it can be over kinda quickly but I LOVE that you have mouse sensitivity settings… my lifeline…

Small thing, I initially clicked ‘resume game’ on my first playthrough and it threw me into the level with the door opened and the flashlight equipped, which made the gameplay even shorter. Besides that, I can only echo the great comment by pocketpainter!

I love the tense atmosphere, well done!

Honestly can’t add anything besides the other comments but it’s a good base, and thanks for making it!

Pretty fun, despite me being a big hater of the kind of logic puzzles where some lights turn off when others turn on. A lot of cool ideas and good combinations of them, I liked the math one too. I had fun!

Nice idea and it works well. Big fan of the absolutely massive crashing sound and big hater of these impatient captains!!

Cool-looking but yeah I also wish it was just a bit longer, like even just a longer corridor with more and more enemies would’ve worked as now the intro video is longer than the rest of the game

Worked well overall, though the solution for level 3 feels like glitching, dunno if I did that correctly :)

love it. mr monster give me money.

It was when going upstairs, the lights were visually on but when trying to read the book, it said ‘it’s to dark to read’ or sth but then was fixed by flipping the switch again. Can’t remember the exact circumstances that led to this though!

This is so good, what the hell? Some of the shadow puzzles were kinda esoteric for me and I solved them more by accident than anything else, but overall it worked great and I like the combination with colors. And the slight twist for the puzzles outside - I literally said ‘hell yeah’ when I realized what’s going on; just a perfect way to end it. Simple but very pleasant progression as well with the different areas. love love love

I’d recommend to take a few screenshots and maybe include the basic controls on your game page (which you can still edit, I did the same thing!), because it’s now a bit iffy to download an exe with practically no information at all. I also got transfixed by the attack/defend/dying(?) animations that I wondered why I can’t kill those slimes until I realized you can just jump on them lol

Gameplay was smooth. There was a small bug when entering another room where the lights were (graphically) on but the game thought they were off - but the light switch returned everything to normal, so not an issue. Neat execution!

Thanks so much for playing!! I think I’m not cut out for jams shorter than like two weeks, I wish I could’ve done more sounds (and properly balance the idle game lol). Also just made the flashing lights warning on the jam page a bit more visible hopefully!

Aww thanks, you’re too nice 🥺 And thanks for the quote, it’s very good (and also true kino!)

Oh hi again, thanks for playing! I’m a big fan of fluorescent lamps so I had to put them in. Yeah the gaps are just me giving up on having clean geometry, I originally thought I’d be done in a day… Super glad to hear that the main idea of looking back at this area full of life from afar worked well though, I hope to use it in a proper game at some point!

Thanks so much for playing!! I can see why the options being locked can be confusing, it’s unintuitive (you can’t choose if your productivity would sink below 0; or if your previous interviews left you under 40 productivity, then it locks for the next few choices). The whole dialogue options thing was really just a desperate attempt at getting at least some sort of interactivity until the game jam deadline.

Very glad you liked it though, hopefully I’ll be able to improve on most things in the next game(s) ❤🙏